Typing Roman Numerals

Here is an example of what roman numerals look like when they are engraved in the theory line:

Roman Numerals

Roman numeral notation provides a concise and simple way to express both the scale degree and the quality of different chords. In a roman numeral, scale degrees are expressed as roman numbers (I to VII) for the seven diatonic degrees (tonic to leading-tone) with the additional feature that the roman number is capitalized if the chord is major or augmented and lower-case for minor or diminished chords. For diminished and augmented romans the characters ° and &plus; are additionally added to the roman.

To enter a roman numeral you type text input that specifies the chord's degree, quality and, optionally, its inversion. This table shows roman numerals for the most common triads and sevenths in major and minor keys:

degree:

text input:

degree:

text input:

tonic

I, i

tonic

I7, i7

supertonic

ii, iio

supertonic

ii7, ii/o7

mediant

iii, III

mediant

iii7, III7

subdominant

IV, iv

subdominant

IV7, iv7

dominant

V, v

dominant

V7

submediant

vi, VI

submediant

vi7, VI7

leading-tone

viio, VII

leading-tone

viio7, vii/o7

To distinguish minor from diminished chords, the diminished roman includes the diminished quality character 'o'. For more information about chord qualities, see Table of Chord Qualities.

Seventh chords (and triads other than root position) are indicated by including inversion information in the roman. For information about chord inversions, see Table of Chord Inversions.

Major and Minor Keys

A roman numeral can include a key as a constituent part of its symbol. For example, the first roman numeral in a work almost always provides the home key of the piece to indicate the tonality underlying the roman numerals of the analysis (see sonority 1, above). Later on in the composition, if the key changes, a direct modulation or a pivot modulation will include a new key in a roman to mark the point where the new tonality begins (see sonority 12, above).

To enter a key you type text input that specifies the tonic and mode of the tonality followed by a colon ':'. For major keys the tonic pitch is upper-case, for minor keys the tonic pitch is lower-case. The colon serves to unambiguously identify the text as belonging to a key and separates it from the remaining text in the roman numeral.

major keys:

text input:

minor keys:

text input:

C

C:

C

c:

C♯

C#:

C♯

c#:

D♭

Db:

D

d:

D

D:

D♯

d#:

E♭

Eb:

E♭

eb:

E

E:

E

e:

F

F:

F

f:

F♯

F#:

F♯

f#:

G♭

Gb:

G

g:

G

G:

G♯

g#:

A♭

Ab:

A♭

ab:

A

A:

A

a:

B♭

Bb:

A♯

a#:

B

B:

B♭

bb:

C♭

Cb:

B

b:

Modal Keys

You may at some point need to provide a modal key, such as D dorian or A mixolydian.

To enter a modal key you type an upper case tonic pitch , followed by enough of the mode name to make it unique and ending with a colon ':'. This table shows typical entries using the first three characters of the mode name.

modal keys:

text input:

D dorian

Ddor:

D phrygian

Dphr:

D lydian

Dlyd:

D mixolydian

Dmix:

D ionian

Dmaj:

D aeolian

Dmin:

Note that there is no Ionian or Aeolian, use Major and Minor instead.

Tonicizations

To enter a tonicization (applied/secondary dominant and its resolution) you provide two romans separated by a slash '/'. The first roman is the applied/secondary chord (dominant or leading-tone chord) and the second is the target chord. This table shows some typical tonicization entries:

tonicization:

input text:

V of vi

V/vi

vii°7 of V

viio7/V

V65 of IV

V65/IV

The first (applied/secondary) chord should include whatever inversion information is necessary to describe the chord.

The second (target) chord is the "theoretical goal" of the applied/secondary chord and should not include inversion information.

Direct and Pivot (or Common Chord) Modulations

There are two kinds of modulations: direct modulations and pivot modulations. A direct modulation simply asserts that a new tonality is been established at a particular chord. A pivot modulation identifies a single chord as being shared between the old tonality and the (new) tonality being established in the modulation. Since by definition a pivot chord belongs to both tonalities, it will require two roman numerals to describe it.

To enter a direct modulation you type text input that consists of a key: and a roman number (which is almost always I, i.e. the tonic chord of the key being established.) From the software's perspective then, the key associated with the first entry in a roman numeral analysis is just a direct modulation that establishes the home key of the composition. For information about how to type keys in roman numerals see the section Major and Minor Keys.

To enter a pivot modulation you provide two romans separated by an equal sign '=', e.g. 'vi=G:ii'. The left side of the '=' contains the pivot chord's function in the old key and the right side provides the new key and the chord's (new) function in the new key. This table shows some typical pivot entries where the old tonality is assumed to be G major:

pivot:

text input:

vi becomes ii in D major

vi=D:ii

iii becomes i in B minor

iii=b:i

IV becomes bVI in E minor

IV=e:bVI

Cadential Six-Four Chords

A cadential six-four chord is a voice-leading chord that often decorates a dominant chord at important cadence points. To specify a cadential six-four chord in the theory line you type either CV64 or CI64, depending on whether or not your teacher labels these chords using the V64 convention or the I64 convention. In minor modes, you would type Cv64 or Ci64 to reflect the mode of the cadential 64 chord. The "C" at the front of the symbol stands for "cadential" and distinguishes the chord from other second inversion, non-cadential chords. When the symbol is engraved in the theory line it will appear with two small lines on the right-hand side to indicate its special nature as a voice leading chord.

Borrowed Chords

A borrowed chord is a chord that is taken from the parallel major or minor of the current key. If the root of the borrowed chord is the same as the diatonic chord's root, then the only thing that changes in the roman is the quality of the chord. If the root is also modified, for example when the lowered-submediant chord in the minor mode is borrowed into major, then root's chromatic alteration will be indicated by preceding the roman with a flat or sharp. For chords whose root is raised or lowered the roman numeral is preceded by a flat if it is lowered or a sharp if if is raised. Here is a table of typical chords borrowed in major and minor keys:

major key:

text input:

minor key:

text input:

minor tonic

i

major tonic

I

diminished supertonic

iio

minor supertonic

ii

lowered mediant

bIII

—

—

minor subdominant

iv

minor subdominant

IV

lowered submediant

bVI

raised submediant

#vi

a flat preceding the roman lowers its root from natural to flat or sharp to natural.

a sharp preceding a roman raises its root from natural to sharp or flat to natural.

leading tone chord in minor is by definition raised so not use a sharp.

Neapolitans

A Neapolitan chord is a chord built on the lowered-supertonic scale degree of a major or minor key. It is typically, but not always, found in first inversion.

To enter a Neapolitan you type either an altered roman numeral or the special name N, optionally followed by the chord's inversion.

neapolitan:

text input:

root position

N, bII

first inversion

N6, bII6

second inversion

N64, bII64

If no inversion is specified the default inversion of a Neapolitan is root position, not first inversion.

Augmented Sixth Chords

An augmented sixth chord is a sonority that is probably less a chord than it is a voice leading structure. It results by applying a "chromatic decoration" to the fourth degree as a minor subdominant chord in first inversion moves to the dominant chord (or sometimes by way of a cadential 64 chord that precedes the motion to the dominant chord.)

To enter an augmented sixth chord you type the name of the chord and (optionally) its inversion. Harmonia distinguishes between four types of augmented sixth chords: Italian, German, French and Swiss. The Swiss augmented sixth sounds the same as the German but is based on a different chord root and so is spelled differently (see below). If the augmented sixth has no explicit inversion number, it's inversion will default to positions that causes the lowered-submediant scale degree to be its bass tone.

augmented sixth:

input text:

Italian 6

It

German 65

Gr, Ger

French 43

Fr

Swiss 43

Sw

If no inversion number is specified for an Italian sixth, it will be in first inversion, e.g. It6.

If no inversion number is specified for a German sixth, it will be in first inversion, e.g. Ger65.

If no inversion number is specified for a French sixth, it will be in second inversion, e.g. Fr43.

If no inversion number is specified for a Swiss sixth, it will be in second inversion, e.g. Sw43.

In tonal music spelling is everything. The German sixth chord sounds like a dominant seventh but is has a different root, chord spelling and resolution path. A Swiss augmented sixth sounds like a dominant seventh (and a German sixth) and also has its own unique root, spelling and resolution path. It may be useful to examine the "root positions" of the various augmented sixth chords in C minor:

root position spelling of Italian sixth:

F&sharp; A&flat; C

root position spelling of German sixth:

F&sharp; A&flat; C E&flat;

root position spelling of French sixth:

D, F&sharp; A&flat; C

root position spelling of Swiss sixth:

D&sharp;, F&sharp; A&flat; C

Typing in the Theory Line

To type roman numerals in a roman numeral analysis assignment do the following:

Click on an entry box to open the theory line editor just beneath the theory line.

Type the root, quality and inversion of the chord as described above into the theory line editor. As you type, your input will be engraved in the theory line in proper music notation.

When you are finished typing, press Return or use the Tab key to move to the next entry in the theory line.